Category Archives: university

One of the most thrilling new Shakespeare resources to appear on the scene has been created out of the English Department of the University of Sydney, a labour of love from Professor Liam Semler.

Shakespeare Reloaded is a whole new, holistic way of thinking about Shakespeare education. Stimulating, variegated and interactive, it includes reflective writing, activities, analysis, research, listings, links and pretty much everything else you can think of.

This resource will continue to expand and will be invaluable for teachers of all levels, students, and those who are simply interested in richer encounters with Shakespeare.

Leaders in scholarship on Shakespeare in the theatre, Dr Kate Flaherty (ANU) and Dr Rob Conkie (La Trobe) are joining to speak on Australia’s engagement with Shakespeare’s Henry V in performance, as a commentary on war, on nation and on history.

“When the first ANZAC Day (25 April 1916) collided with the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (23 April 1916), a special kind of challenge was issued to the Australian commemorative calendar. To this day productions of Henry V still bear traces of the ways in which the newly federated nation met this challenge. From a newsreel of a ‘Shakespeare in the Schools’ on the steps of the ANZAC memorial in 1955, to the 1995 Bell Shakespeare production featuring ‘diggers’, to the 2014 Bell production which couched its meditation of war politics in the context of the London blitz, Australian treatments of the play map a specifically Australian politics of war remembrance.”

Every second year, whether or not there is an anniversary of note, Shakespeare scholars from the antipodes meet to share their latest ideas and research. ANZSA – the Australia and New Zealand Shakespeare Association – is a loosely associated and highly interdisciplinary collective, so the conference is always an opportunity to catch up on all kinds of areas, literary, historic and performative.

The location moves around Australia and New Zealand. This time it is at the University of Waikato, so we hope everyone stays safe from any aftershocks. At present everything will be going ahead as originally planned.

Papers will also be given by Laurie Johnson, Mark O’Connor, Paul Kauffman, David Rowland, and your humble correspondent.

From the University of Melbourne website:

After a year-long celebration of the quartercentenary of Shakespeare’s death, it’s time to move from reflection to future directions. What will Shakespearean text and performance look like, beyond the 400 year anniversary? This symposium will draw on the expertise of its four keynote speakers from the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham and the University of York to focus on questions of editing and performance.

The University of Notre Dame, Sydney is hosting a full day of presentations showcasing their engagement with this anniversary year. Two special parts of that are open to the public, and all who are interested are warmly invited to attend.

There will be a 1pm keynote address by Professor Chris Wortham on Shakespeare’s Maps, and students will be performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Notre Dame Theatre at 4.30pm, which will be followed by a reception.

The campus is on the corner of Abercrombie Street and Broadway in Chippendale and is very easy to find. There is no charge, and no need to book.

The next instalment of the University of Queensland’s series of Shakespearean events, “The Delighted Spirit”, as usual supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, is a free lunchtime concert showcasing a selection of wonderfully talented emerging vocal performers.

A full day of events at the beautiful campus of the University of Western Australia (they have peacocks).

In this year full of commemorations, the largest full-day celebration to take place in Australia is still to come. The Shakespeare 400 Perth Festival is free, family friendly and packed with events grand and small, from the sublime and the serious to the silly.

Expect to see all kinds of characters

Starting at midday, with seven different on-campus locations, you can encounter strolling players, listen to some songs or sonnets, or get lost in the Forest of Arden. There are games, stalls, scenes performed, an insult-flinging competition, and even the chance to involve yourself in Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene. There are lots of activities for children – remember that most Halloween children’s games date back to the middle ages. There are far too many events to list here, so click through to their printable schedule and plan for your favourites.

The Australian and New Zealand Shakespeare Association holds a conference every two years. In 2016 this is taking place at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Those who are still deciding whether to make the trip over the pond in November now have an extra few weeks to submit a proposal for a presentation.

The final call for papers for ANZSA2016: Shakespeare at the Edges will now be Thursday September 1. Abstracts submitted before the final date will be considered and the proposers notified progressively.

Fie upon this quiet life: I want work.

From the website:

“The Conference will feature plenary and panel sessions, live performance and film screenings. Conference highlights include keynote addresses by Douglas Bruster (Shakespeare and the Question of Culture, 2003, and Shakespeare and the Power of Performance, 2008 with Robert Weimann); Lisa Hopkins (Shakespeare on the Edge, 2005, and Renaissance Drama on the Edge, 2014); a special performance for delegates of Regan Taylor’s commedia-inspired Maori adaptation: Solothello; delegates will be able to attend Carving in Ice’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost in the playhouse on the University Campus. Seats will be reserved for Friday November 18. The Conference dinner wil be at the Green Dragon Pub, Hobbiton, 45 minutes drive from the University of Waikato.”

You have to credit the allure of an academic conference that holds its official dinner in Hobbiton.

A French Queen of England, a loyal adulteress, a devoted leader but a devastating foe, Queen Margaret is one of Shakespeare’s most vivid renderings of a historic character. Intrigue, betrayal, romance and revenge coloured the life of this brilliant and compelling woman.

In the 400 years since William Shakespeare’s death, countless theatre makers have wrestled with the task that has become a constant in theatrical practice: how do we make this new? We have seen Hamlet played by lions, The Taming of the Shrew in a high school and Macbeth in a kitchen, but only a very brave few have had the ingenuity to take Shakespeare’s words and craft a new play, with ‘all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order’. One such impresario is Elizabeth Schafer, her chosen story that of the Wars’ Reddest Rose, Margaret of Anjou.

Straddling fifty-two years of history, three kings and no fewer than four of Shakespeare’s plays, the story of Queen Margaret is less a power parable, more a tale of the resilience, resolve and charisma that is demanded of a princess, queen, general and mother. Taken from her home in France and married to a foreign king, Margaret fights passionately for her new house. No such fight is without casualties.

Shakespeare Twentyscore and The Puzzle Productions invite you to two staged readings of Shakespeare’s ‘new’ play, Margaret of Anjou. Performances will take place at 7pm on the 8th of July at UNSW’s Io Myers Studio and the 18th of August at the University of Notre Dame Studio, Broadway.

A cast of 16 includes Claire Bird, Teresa Jakovich and Wendy Strehlow as Margaret, Chris Huntly-Turner as Suffolk, John Galea as King Henry VI, and Jane Bergeron as Richard III.

Some further background to the project and a short podcast from the Director are available here.

Margaret of Anjou by William Shakespeare

Tickets for 8 July (Io Myers Studio, UNSW) are $10.

The performance on 18 August (Notre Dame Studio) is free and unticketed.

From La Trobe University and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Interpreting Shakespeare is a professional learning day which marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

Thursday 28 July 2016, 9:30am to 3:30pm

Bring Shakespeare back to life in your classroom.

In conjunction with La Trobe University, ACMI invites teachers to bring Shakespeare back to life in their classrooms by spending a professional learning day Interpreting Shakespeare.

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016, this one-day professional learning program offers teachers stimulating and thought-provoking approaches to reading and teaching Shakespeare texts. Focusing on moving image and theatrical interpretations of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, this all-day program offers a range of perspectives to re-enliven this educational rite of passage.

“If Shakespeare were alive and writing today, would he be a screenwriter? Would he be adapting Game of Thrones?” said ACMI Education Programmer Susan Bye. “Together with La Trobe University, ACMI has developed a range of exciting approaches to show how each time one of Shakespeare’s plays is adapted for the screen or performed on stage, he is reborn. This learning day will equip teachers with techniques that will not only ensure Shakespeare remains relevant to today’s students, but vital. Long live the bard!”

Presenters include members of the English, Drama and Cinema programs at La Trobe, ACMI’s team of expert educators and special guest, Dr David McInnis, Gerry Higgins lecturer in Shakespeare Studies, University of Melbourne.